USS Seawolf (SS-197)
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Namesake: | Atlantic wolffish |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 27 September 1938 |
| Launched: | 15 August 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 1 December 1939 |
| Struck: | 20 January 1945 |
| Fate: | Probably sunk by friendly fire from USS Richard M. Rowell off Morotai on 3 October 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Sargo-class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,450 long tons (1,470 t) standard, surfaced, 2,350 long tons (2,390 t) submerged |
| Length: | 310 ft 6 in (94.64 m) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 10 in (8.18 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft 7 1⁄2 in (5.067 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators, 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries, 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears, two shafts, 5,400 shp (4.1 MW) surfaced, 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged |
| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) @ 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 48 hours @ 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement: | 5 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament: | 8 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes), 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal deck gun, four machine guns |
USS Seawolf (SS-197), a Sargo-class submarine, was the second submarine of the United States Navy named for the seawolf.
Her keel was laid down on 27 September 1938 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 15 August 1939 sponsored by Mrs. Syria Florence Kalbfus, wife of Admiral Edward C. Kalbfus and commissioned on 1 December 1939, Lieutenant Frederick B. Warder (Class of 1925) in command.
After fitting out, Seawolf departed Portsmouth, New Hampshire on 12 April 1940 for her shakedown cruise, which lasted until 21 June and took her as far south as the Panama Canal Zone. Seawolf was next assigned to the Pacific Fleet, home ported at San Diego. In the autumn of 1940, she proceeded to Manila Bay and operated from the Cavite Navy Yard.
When war with Japan began, the submarine readied for sea and was on her first war patrol from 8–26 December 1941.
Seawolf hunted Japanese shipping off San Bernardino Strait. On 14 December, she fired a spread of torpedoes at Sanyo Maru in Port San Vicente. One torpedo hit, but did not explode. She promptly underwent her first depth charge attack but suffered no damage.
Seawolf departed Manila on 31 December 1941 for Australia and arrived at Darwin on 9 January 1942. She loaded 30–40 tons of .50-caliber (12.7 mm) antiaircraft ammunition for use by American forces on Corregidor and sailed for Manila Bay on 16 January. The submarine sighted seven Japanese freighters accompanied by four destroyers and a cruiser on 21 January, but had no opportunity to fire any of the eight torpedoes that she had aboard. The ammunition was unloaded on 28–29 January at Corregidor. Seawolf then loaded torpedoes and passengers, and headed for Surabaya, Java.
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